Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya Music Review - Magical Touch of ARR

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya (English: Will You Cross The Skies For Me?) is a forthcoming Tamil romance film written and directed by Gautham Menon, starring Silambarasan Rajendar and Trisha Krishnan in the lead roles.The film, which has music scored by Academy Award winner A. R. Rahman, teaming up with both Gautham Menon and Silambarasan for the first time, is scheduled to release on 12 February 2010, coinciding with Valentine’s Day. This is Rahman’s first Tamil composition after wining the Oscar. This is also the first time Gautham Menon is working with Rahman.It would be fair to say this was the most anticipated album of the year.I am convinced that this is the first time Simbu would have acted for real to suit the character in the movie without any fancy tricks. Hopefully this will move his career in the right direction.

Thamarai has done what Vairamuthu did for Rahman in his initial years. The lyrics are very impressive.

Omana Penne(Benny Dayal, Kalyani Menon)

Omanappenne is magical, in one word! The music part that is, I could not make much sense of the lyrics, the Malayalam part at least. Rahman crafts a dream sequence effect with the arrangement, something he had done in the past in Kangalal Kaidhusei. And the faint naadaswaram strains playing in the background off and on are just brilliant.The only thing that could have been done without is the processing of the voices of Benny Dayal and Kalyani Menon. The part that goes “Nee Pogum Vazhiyil..” sounds especially annoying owing to the effect.


Anbil Avan (Devan Ekambaram, Chinmayi)
Devan and Chinmayi step in with the bouncy Anbil Avan which again sees South Indian percussion like thavil and mridangam playing on in between the electronic-dominated instrumentation. The highlight of the song is the fusion of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March and the South Indian Hindu Wedding song, indicative of the Hindu-Christian setting that Simbu and Trisha play in the movie.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya(Karthik)

The title track is a very rich song with soulful rendering from Karthik on a simple base of guitars, light strings on the back ground and minimal fillers. The song uses minor scales to great effect moving in and out of the same beautifully and the tune imperceptibly drifts into a 6 beat cycle and back (to the 8 beat cycle) towards the end all defining the feel of this song which is satisfying.


Hosanna(Vijay Prakash, Suzanne D’Mello, Blaaze)
Hosanna is something that has been reviewed in the past, and I don’t have much to add to that now, except that a superior lineup of the other songs has brought down the value of the song a bit! Watch out for the transformation of this song from a soulful melody to a mix of pop and Hip Hop.Vijay is wonderful to the ear and Blazee completes the Hip Hop part. Suzanne’s powerful voice also blends nicely into the song. Get your dance shoes ready

Kannukkul Kannai(Naresh Iyer)
Naresh Iyer was missing in Rahman’s albums but he is back. This is the only fast paced song in the album but the overarching theme is still melody. The violin interludes are a masterpiece.It is clear that Rahman has worked hard on the sound mixing. The lyrics courtesy of Thamarai are still unadulterated , indicating that it is possible to create a song with heavy western influence with 100% Tamil Lyrics .This song would be a good reason to upgrade your speaker system !

Mannipaaya (A. R. Rahman, Shreya Ghoshal)
Things move on in such top notch fashion until Mannippaaya. The arrangement is spot on even here, Rahman making no mistake. However the tune of the song is what I couldn’t get a hold of. It seemed to go through quite a few complex nuances to be appealing to the lay ear. Shreya Ghoshal and Rahman do a fab job of the vocals, but I somehow could not assimilate the song that well. One of the few rare occasions where Rahman does not sing the best song of his album.

But all that stands forgotten come Aaromale.

Aaoromale(Alphons Joseph)

WHAT A SONG! This is one of those songs that would make a Malayali music fan envious of the fact that Rahman isn’t into Malayalam music, and make bands like Avial thank their stars that Rahman isn’t into a lot of this kind of music, coz he would definitely be giving them a run for their money! The kind of fusion that Rahman presents in Aaromale is at an entirely different level altogether, there is rock, there is folk, and the occasional classical snippets, all melded together in a way only the man can. And Alphonse, what a fantastic job he has done on the vocals! In fact he sounded totally different from the way he usually does so I had difficulty believing it was indeed Alphonse. And the kind of octave range he displays in the song makes one wonder what the hell he was doing all this while, especially when he had such immense opportunities, having composed so many Malayalam songs himself.

Rahman has focused on melody for this movie. Gautham Menon must have spent a lot of time with Rahman and it is very evident with the quality of the songs in the album.This will be new experience for the Tamil audience and I am convinced that they will embrace it.

This album is for the cosmopolitan music lover . A must buy !